


Looking For A Mind At Work

by silveradept



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Libraries, Library Typical Issues, Professionalism In The Face Of The Weird, Speciesism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26898586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Kali is trying to find what might be a dangerous monster. Nerissa is trying to run a library without getting too involved in her wife's profession. When Kari's target shows up at Nerissa's desk, the two of them work together to find a peaceful resolution.
Relationships: Mundane Librarian/Monster Hunter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12
Collections: Canon Ball 2020





	Looking For A Mind At Work

"How good are you at logic puzzles?" Kari said, looking up from the sprawl of newspapers she was borrowing the six-person table to look at.

"It takes me a while to get through the daily Sudoku, but not terrible," Nerissa replied. "I really hate those 'Here's four statements, figure out which of these six guests brought which desserts, and therefore which one is responsible for deliberately poisoning Mr. Boddy in which room of his extravagant mansion' puzzles, though."

Kari snorted quietly, so as not to disturb the other users in the library, before pointing at the papers in front of her. "There's something here in these articles. Children venturing out into the forests and meeting monsters with unknown, but assumed to be questionable, intentions. It seems like there's something out there with a type. Doesn't seem like they're trying to hurt anyone, though."

Nerissa set her expression firmly. "The last time we went out looking for something you thought of as 'mostly harmless', I was picking quills out of my…self for a week afterward."

"I'm sorry about that. Mai tells me they work really well as acupuncture needles, though." Kari said, grinning sheepishly at her.

"Did you have an actual question, or did you call me over just so that you could spend some time next to your wife?" Nerissa said, doing her best not to be taken in by Kari's smile.

"Right. Logic puzzle. As best I can tell, all of the children who have seen this creature have done so right after they've been exercising their brains with things like mathematics or puzzle games that don't need a lot of lateral thinking."

"I thought we had both agreed that there would be no more 'my wife looks like excellent bait and I can Errol Flynn my way out of any situation' scenarios."

"That happened once," Kari pouted.

"And once was enough."

"However, I was only going to mention that the quiz bowl regional finals are today, and I remember you complaining a few times before about how it's cruel to expect advanced mathematics right before the snack break."

Nerissa nearly groaned before remembering there were still users in the library. She knew Kari was leading up to something, and while it would sound innocuous, it would most likely mean having to provide support to her wife when she inevitably annoyed, aggravated, or unintentionally flirted with whatever non-human being was behind this situation.

"What do you want me to do?" Nerissa sighed.

"Be a responsible adult and keep an eye on the participants to make sure none of them wander off on their own," Kari said, smiling. "No adventuring, no sword-swinging, just keep an eye on the kids and let me know if one of them breaks off from the rest so I can step in if I need to."

That, of course, was the entire problem. When Kari stepped in, by the time she was done, someone had been saved from at least one possibly monstrous threat, but ghosts, monsters, and other nonhumans didn't exactly leave behind irrefutable evidence of their existence all the time, so there had been more than a couple times where they'd both had to think of something quickly or slip away while the person they had saved was describing what had happened to an obviously skeptical audience.

"And how do you propose I keep track of all of those children in the first place?" Nerissa asked.

Kari's face fell as she contemplated this additional wrinkle. "I hadn't thought of that. Guess I'll have to come up with a different plan. I love it when you're sensible."

Nerissa kept her reaction to a small smile. Then, remembering what _she_ was here to talk to Kari about, delivered her a photocopy of the Sudoku puzzle in their local paper.

"Stop marking up my newspapers," Nerissa said sternly. "Mr. Arx complains every time you've filled in the puzzles before he gets a copy."

Kari accepted the paper with a slight tinge of embarrassment. "Sorry."

Nerissa went back to the desk, leaving her wife to further contemplate the impossibility of keeping track of several teams' worth of students well enough to catch a monster that wanted to say hello to one. She had a tricky problem of her own to contemplate about buying enough to keep the shelves full, weeding enough to keep the shelves from being overfull, and figuring out how to do both of these things with sufficient stealth that the public would be none the wiser that their collection had been refreshed. The last time she'd successfully disposed of the old and tattered books, she'd made the mistake of letting the Friends of the Library sell the ones in better condition, leading to several letters to her director about "destroying beloved classics," "depriving children of the opportunity to learn," and several other bouts of utterly unnecessary panic at the possibility that the book that was written four decades ago and could rival Little Black Sambo for racism might not be part of the collection to teach the young children about the social order. Calculations and timetables worked their way through the spreadsheet software she used to stage and think about her purchases before going through with them, turning over several possibilities in her head before finally settling on a plan of action.

"Excuse me," someone said at the desk. Nerissa looked up, absolutely certain there hadn't been someone there the moment before she'd tapped the last few keys of her plan into place.

Before she could control it, she sighed softly. Standing in front of her was something that definitely would qualify as monstrous, although not nearly as much as some of the creatures that Kari had been asked to get rid of.

"I'm sorry," the monster said, sounding offended. "I wanted to compliment the workings of your mind, but if you're disappointed to see me…"

Nerissa shook her head. "My wife has probably been looking for you. Something has been frightening children nearby, and I'm pretty sure she wanted to find you so the children would stop being frightened."

"Ah, yes," the creature said sourly, the tentacles around its mouth waving agitatedly. "Very much like humans to fear things that don't look like them, even if there's no reason to."

"Sorry about that," Nerissa said. "That's not polite of me. What can I help you with?"

"Is there a place I could sit and observe the minds at work here? Possibly with a good book?"

"So long as you respect privacy and confidentiality, there's a table on the second floor next to the computer lab," Nerissa said. "And what kind of books are you interested in?"

"Locked-room mysteries," the monster replied. "I absolutely devour them."

"I hope that's not literal," Nerissa said. The monster looked affronted at the thought. "Did you want to check them out and take them back home?" she continued. The creature thought for a moment and nodded. "If you would like to apply for a library card," Nerissa continued, "it's easiest if you have something with a photograph of you and proof that you're a resident in the county."

"Ah," the monster said, the mouth-tentacles wriggling in what might be a small amount of distress. "That might be difficult. Attempts at taking a photograph of me tend to result in the camera breaking and the photographer screaming into the night."

"All right, so we'll have to mail the card to your residence to prove that it's you," Nerissa said. "Let's start with that."

"Very well," the monster said, and recited an address in Franklin Park.

After finishing their application and getting them a couple of good starter mysteries, Nerissa believed Ned was probably going to be easier to work with than some of the other non-human users of the library, but she would reserve her judgment until after she saw how they did with the regulars tomorrow. 

Right after she had sat Ned down at the table, Kari came into view, stopping a respectable distance away when Ned hissed at her.

"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you, unless you've done something where I have to," she said. "I've heard about are some frightened children, that's all."

Ned looked between the two of them and made a disappointed sound. "So you set this one out as bait so you could hurt me and make the children be less frightened?"

"Hey, that's my wife, and no, I didn't use her as bait," Kari said. "What were you working on, sweetie?"

"Spreadsheets," Nerissa replied.

"Oh, hah, of course," Kari said, chuckling. "Logic and mathematics all rolled into one. Which would have been pretty attractive to a being such as yourself, I'm guessing. What's your name?"

"Unpronounceable."

Kari shrugged. She'd been told that many times before. "Try me."

"Ned was just getting some books to read," Nerissa interjected, looking at her wife and silently willing _Don't turn this into a fight, please_ at her.

Ned turned back to Nerissa. "I see why she loves you so much now," they said. "You…sand her rough edges until they are smooth, I believe the saying is. It is regrettable you are already mated. I should like to have a mate that is half as clever as you."

"Still my wife," Kali cut in. "Although, thank you, she's beautiful and smart, and I do love her."

"I will see you tomorrow, then," Ned said, inclining their head to Nerissa.

"Hang on," Kali said, stepping in front of Ned as they turned to leave. "What about the children?"

"Oh, that's not a problem," Ned said, shrugging. "Now that I know about this place, I won't have to chase scraps like that any more." They stepped around Kari nonchalantly and walked out of the library.

"Are you okay with this?" Kari asked Nerissa, once Ned had left. "It definitely sounded like they're going to hang around you a lot while they're here."

"So long as they don't disturb either users or staff and they aren't a creep about what they're doing, they aren't breaking any rules," Nerissa said. Kari looked unimpressed. "And if they try to eat any brains, I still have the sword in the umbrella stand and I know how to use it," Nerissa added.

Kari smiled. " _Yeah_ , you do. Listen, I've got to run. Someone in town just posted a picture of a new attendant at the Nickel Bridge, and I think I'm going to finally get to cross "troll" off of my bucket list for encounters. Catch you at home, babe," she said, leaning in to kiss Nerissa on the cheek, before strolling out of the library whistling an approximation of the latest song being played on all the radio stations.

Nerissa shook her head and looked at the clock. It would take Kari just long enough to get to the Nickel as there was time left on her shift. Kari hadn't made it more than fifteen minutes after work before calling Nerissa to help her out of whatever situation she was getting into, but there was always hope that she'd break the record one of these days.

Looking at the clock again, Kari picked up the phone and made the first closing announcement, hoping that she could get everyone out the door and on their way before having to rush to Kari's rescue.


End file.
